What began as a friendship between two teammates four-and-a-half years ago at a since closed roller hockey rink in National City was cemented with a pair of gold medals at July’s AAU Junior Olympic Games in Las Vegas.

Hilltop High School alumnus Kekoa Latimore and former Valhalla High School student Alec McCrea were teammates on the San Diego Sprung Hosers/Stingrays team that captured the gold medal in the 21-under Club Division. They also helped spearhead the Team USA Stars 21U team to the gold medal in the tournament’s International Division.

The two national championship medals hold special significance for Latimore, now a senior at Bethel University, because the tournament marked the final time he would be able to play in the same age division, and on the same team, with his best friend.

“This was going to be the last summer Alec and I would be playing together for awhile,” Latimore explained. “Next summer, he is moving away to Massachusetts to prepare himself for the upcoming year at Harvard and I will be submitting grad school applications as well as starting my career in business management.

“It was very rewarding to see all the years of our hard work and training finally pay off.”

Hard work, dedication and a strong work ethic in an effort to be successful are the fruits of the seeds planted in Latimore and McCrea’s friendship first begun as teenagers. Latimore is now 22 and McCrea is 19 and both appear headed to divergent horizons as they enter the adult world.

But hockey has always been the common denominator in their friendship, and it will remain so.

“What is interesting about us is that as long as this friendship continues, the road to our ultimate goals will truly be one remarkable tale,” Latimore explained.

“I think it would be kind of cool if Alec was playing in the NHL some day and I was working in the NHL.”

Who knows?

Unlikely beginningLatimore readily admits this isn’t your typical friendship storyline. It’s long and takes many turns, but remains compelling — and is branded with gold as the reward.

Latimore and McCrea met while competing in a men’s league at Skate San Diego. The meeting was anything but typical, Latimore noted.

“Typically, players meet their teammates during preseason, where each kid goes around, says their name and one interesting fact about themselves,” Latimore explained. “However, our meet and greet was different. We met midseason of the adult league because I joined the program late and, in fact, Alec and I met midway through a game playing on the same line.

“For the first couple of weeks, we had no idea what each other’s names were. We would acknowledge each with the nicknames given to us by the veterans who had been playing in the men's league longer than Alec and I have been playing hockey combined. We had instant chemistry on the rink; it seemed as if we have been playing together for years -- it felt like second nature.”

As they became better acquainted, Latimore assumed McCrea was also 18. After all, McCrea was already six feet, two inches tall and weighed close to 200 pounds.

But because of McCrea’s proficient hockey skills and the willingness to improve by playing against older, more experiences players, it turned out that wasn’t the case at all.

“When I asked him what high school he graduated from, his response was, ‘What are you talking about, I am a freshman at Valhalla High School!’” Latimore recalled.

The minor age difference didn’t prove to be a hindrance. In fact, McCrea had much to offer his newfound friend in terms of hockey training.

“Once RollerSkateLand in Santee closed down, I was trying to find another site to play roller hockey and even took some time off from playing,” McCrea recalled. “But we heard about Joe’s rink in National City (run by ex-NHL and WHA pro Joe Noris), and it wasn’t too far away.

“I was young at the time and I was playing against guys who were 25, 30, even 35 years old. At became more comfortable as the season went on. It also helped that I was placed on a pretty good team.

“Being from El Cajon, there weren’t too many people there who had been playing at a high level, so it was nice to play with someone closer to my own age at the AAA level when Kekoa joined the team. That was pretty cool. All my friends on my ice hockey team lived in North County but now I had met someone who lived much closer who I could train with. We went from there and started to hang out outside the rink.”

As they continued to play together at Skate San Diego, McCrea introduced Latimore to what it was like to train like a professional hockey player. It wasn’t something that Latimore, then an avid skateboarder, exactly had in mind.

“For the first couple of months I strongly disliked Alec,” Latimore confessed. “Every day he would call or text me asking, ‘Hey man, do you want to go to the rink? Hey, do you want to go play ice hockey tonight? Hey, Kekoa, do you want to go to the gym and lift?’

“The persistence this kid had to get me out and work out was remarkable as well as aggravating. I never met someone who was so committed and focused on reaching his ultimate goal, which is to play in the National Hockey League. Eventually I gave in and started going to the rink earlier than usual and doing fundamental exercises.”

It turned out that McCrea believed that going back to the basics meant everything in training. It made both players better players.

“So, for the whole second half of the adult league season and the whole summer, Alec and I spent almost every day training together,” Latimore explained. “We worked religiously on fundamentals, learned the proper techniques on weight-lifting and made occasional trips to the beach. For all my years playing hockey, this was the first time I ever had one-on-one private coaching. Whenever I stepped onto the rink ready to do some drills, all I kept thinking to myself was, ‘Wow, a 15-year-old is seriously teaching an 18-year-old how to play hockey.’”

After six months of putting in a consistent work ethic, McCrea was able to break down all of Latimore’s bad habits and rebuild Latimore’s game from the ground up. “To this day, I credit my development to Alec,” the former Hilltop High roller hockey standout said. “If it wasn’t for him, I would probably not be playing high level hockey right now.”

Latimore also credited Mishka Drury, his coach with the 18U Midget Jr. Ducks inline hockey travel team program, as being instrumental in his development as a hockey player.

Fast forwardLatimore went on to earn a silver medal with the United States junior men’s national team at the 2011 FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships in Italy and the following year, as a freshman at Bethel University, helped the Wildcats win the Division I gold medal at the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association national championship tournament.

McCrea, meanwhile, elected to play Junior A ice hockey and left Valhalla after his sophomore year to play in the North American Hockey League for the Janesville (Wis.) Jets and later, in the United States Hockey League, for the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks.

It was while playing in the NAHL that McCrea committed to play ice hockey for Harvard University.

This past season, McCrea helped lead Waterloo to the best regular season record in the USHL and a runner-up finish in the championship playoffs. A defenseman, McCrea posted his best season in Junior A hockey by collecting seven goals and 21 points in 59 games.

Both young men credited their success to their intense workouts at Skate San Diego.

“Since day one of my hockey career, all I ever dreamed of was playing for Team USA and Alec knew this was the course to play Division I ice hockey,” Latimore explained. “We started training on the rink twice as long, shooting twice as many pucks, and working out twice as hard. Every morning we woke up with the attitude that reaching these goals was everything we ever wanted and, as long as we made the sacrifices and shared the workload, everything would all work out on its own,” Latimore said. “We constantly motivated and kept each other accountable.”

Latimore said it was at this time that he learned to develop what he termed “a laser focus and put first things first.”

McCrea said he noticed a change in Latimore’s attitude to hockey. “He took it a lot more seriously to the point of giving up skateboarding,” McCrea explained. “He started to focus on his schoolwork and hockey.”

“I learned a great deal of self-discipline as well as a strong work ethic from Alec," Latimore said. "He taught me to score for the big dreams, work toward a life I want to live and, in doing so, ignore all the other nonsense.”

But for all they went through together in improving each other’s game, they faced one obstacle: leaving home.

“I will never forget the day Alec told me at Skate San Diego that he was moving in a few months to further his hockey career and play juniors in the Midwest,” Latimore said. “I had no idea where I was going at the time and picturing a life without Alec as my best friend was disheartening. It was honestly one of the worst feelings because I didn’t know about the whole moving away to play somewhere else, I figured kids stuck around and waited for opportunities to come to them.

“The day I returned from Italy after playing in the FIRS world junior tournament, I got an offer from Bethel University, asking me if I was interested in going to school in Tennessee that upcoming fall. Leading up to our last days, Alec and I spent just about every day together, trying to live out our remaining days in San Diego.”

Latimore recounted the two friends left San Diego on the same day bound for different hockey horizons — Latimore to McKenzie, Tenn., to play roller hockey at Bethel University and McCrea to Wisconsin to play junior ice hockey.

“I will always remember the day of us leaving because I was able to walk Alec over to his gate and watch his plane take off,” Latimore said. “At first we thought we weren’t going to be able to see each other because our airlines were on complete opposite ends of the airport. Surprisingly enough, we were able to meet up due to flight delays. It was so awesome how we were able to be there for each other all the way up till the day of us departing for our respective futures in hockey.”

“I definitely didn’t know what to expect,” McCrea offered. “I knew I was willing to move away for the chance to play Junior A hockey. At that time it was very exciting for me – a new beginning. But as the time got closer to leave, it hit me I’d miss my family and my friends. Who would I be living with? Would I like my new school and would I make new friends?”

Second chanceWhile they were away from home, Latimore and McCrea continued to keep in touch and talked about what it would be like to play roller hockey together again — be like the dynamic duo of old times.

“Every summer we talked how we were going to play together,” McCrea said. “The past couple of summers we were able to play on the same team, though they weren’t that good.”

With this being Latimore’s last summer to play at the 21U level alongside McCrea, and other friends he had grown up playing with, the erstwhile dynamic duo was determined to make it happen.

“When we heard about the AAU national championship tournament being held in Vegas this year we were ecstatic,” Latimore said.

Their excitement grew even more when they were both asked to represent Team USA in the tournament’s International Division.

“All we kept thinking about was how awesome it was going to be to put on a Team USA jersey and be able to play together in a whole new atmosphere and perform on a bigger stage compared to Skate San Diego,” Latimore said. “Leading up to the tournament, we were fired up and ready to go.”

Latimore and McCrea played as a defensive tandem for the Hosers/Stingrays and Team USA Stars.

Latimore collected a pair of goals and four assists in 10 games at the AAU Junior Olympic Games while McCrea ended up sharing the team lead in scoring with eight points (tied with teammate Charles “Chucky Slick” Baldwin of YouTube “Living the Dream — Junior Hockey Anthem”) in the 21U International Division.

Latimore said one of the highlights of the tournament was watching his teammates unwrap packages that contained their Team USA uniforms.

“Seeing the excitement around the locker room as guys were tearing off the packaging of their USA jersey and pants was something you can’t really put words to,” Latimore said. “You felt like a kid on Christmas,” Latimore said.

“Any time you put on the red, white and blue, it’s something special,” McCrea noted. “To play with a bunch of guys you’ve grown up with made it even more special. We all were representing our country but also our hometowns. That was very cool, that was special.”

Golden momentsThe Hosers/Stingrays finished 1-1-1 in round-robin play and qualified for the 21U Club Division playoffs as the No. 5 seed. But the addition of former Poway High sparkplug Reed Kinsey to the team’s line-up in time for the playoffs proved to be the missing ingredient to the mix as the San Diego squad pulled off a pair of upsets to win the gold medal.

The Hosers/Stingrays turned in one of the most shocking wins of the tournament when they defeated the heavily favored Mission Outcasts team from Arizona in the semifinals. Former San Pasqual High School (and current Lindenwood University) standout Thompson Teague scored the game-tying goal with three seconds to play in regulation and Baldwin then supplied the overtime game-winner in a 5-4 victory to eliminate the second-seeded Outcasts.

McCrea assisted on the game-winning goal.

The San Diegans then topped the top-seeded Revision Vanquish by a score of 8-3 in the championship game. Latimore scored once while McCrea picked up two assists.

“The thing I enjoy about playing with Alec is he knows the right things to say to calm someone down and help them regain their confidence,” Latimore explained.

“Whenever I had a bad shift or something wasn’t going our way, Alec was always there to support me and give me that extra pep in the hope I could have a better shift the next go around.

“Our focus throughout the tournament was to play shut-down defense and make a strong first pass up to the forwards. Alec always had a saying before every game, ‘Simple is better, less is more.’ We kept that saying throughout the tournament, so whenever we felt we were losing our focus, we would just recite that in our heads and practice it the next time we stepped onto the rink. I loved playing with McCrea because he is very smart on the rink and he can sense when you’re in trouble, moments before it even happens.

“So having him as an outlet whenever I was out there definitely made playing the game that much easier to perform. With his ice hockey background and my college roller hockey experience, we were able to mesh the two together, which allowed us to play a smart, controlled and physical when needed type of game. Playing against Revision in the championship was a true testament to that. Alec and I maintained majority of the puck possession and we were able to knock the other guys off the puck whenever they were coming into our defensive zone.”

The two AAU national championships gave Latimore three national championships in his career; they were the first-ever for McCrea.

“It was my first AAU national championship and my first with Kekoa,” McCrea said proudly.

Team USA Stars was comprised mostly of players from the Hosers/Stingrays as co-coaches Steve Baldwin and Noris had been asked to put together a team for the 21U International Division at such a late date. The team chemistry and talent proved equal to the task.

Having teammates such as former Scripps Ranch High School standout C.J. Ruhwedel, now a defenseman for the NHL Buffalo Sabres, had to help for motivation.

“It was great being able to play with C.J. — you don’t get the chance every day to play with someone who’s played in the NHL,” McCrea said. “I learned a lot from him. He’s a really great, terrific guy and an even better player.”Team USA Stars defeated the Ecuador Evoltion, 8-0, in their first game and topped the Rubber Ducks from Canada, 6-4, in their second game before absorbing a 6-4 setback to Team USA Stripes, the other American team entered in the division.

Team USA Stars proved perfect in winning their two playoff games – 7-1 over the Canadians in the semifinals and 6-3 over Team USA Stripes in the championship game.

McCrea and Baldwin each collected three goals and an assist in the semifinal win while Latimore had a goal and assist in the gold medal game.

“The game against Canada was all about out-smarting the other team -- playing controlled hockey, moving the puck back when we didn’t have anything, and then capitalizing on our chances once they caused a turnover,” Latimore explained. “It was a simple concept, but we all had to make sure we were on the same page and that we were disciplined if things weren’t going our way the first time.

“We carried the same game plan into the gold medal final. Everyone placed their bids on us to win it. We knew that we could make it happen, but it all came down to who wanted it more and which team was going to play smart hockey. We jumped on the board early, maintaining our lead throughout the duration of the game. As the final buzzer went off and guys threw their hands in the air, all I wanted to do was skate up to Alec and give him a celebratory hug. Being able to lift not one, but two, championship trophies in one weekend will without a doubt be something I will always remember. There is no better feeling than receiving gold medals and taking pictures in the winners circle.”

The trip to Las Vegas was a success in other ways. This was the first time for Latimore and McCrea rooming together for seven days.

“We spent majority of our down time at the condo, whatever chance we could get to be away from the rink was there,” Latimore said. “Throughout the trip, we learned a lot about each other. Alec taught me how to go grocery shopping and properly look for the healthy foods rather than the occasional pizza and ice cream. I helped him write his research paper that he was working on for his summer English class.

“He should me how to cook up breakfast, lunch and dinner and I taught him how to gather information from different sources. It was funny how he was teaching me these life skills because it reminded me of the times when he was teaching me how to play hockey, and now four years later, he was teaching me how to cook proper game day meals.”

Despite leaving Las Vegas with two gold medals and what he termed “a book full of memories,” Latimore admitted he was “kind of sad” leaving the Nevada city.

“There have been countless moments where I wanted to give up and hang up the skates, but Alec was always there to help encourage and motivate me to keep moving forward. He was the first guy to extend a helping hand, show me what I needed to do to get better, and be there if I needed someone to talk to. It is not every day you meet someone like Alec. He is seriously the ideal best friend that anyone could ever ask for. He will tell you the truth when he feels like you need to hear it, but at the same time he will help show you how you can turn your weaknesses into strengths.

“There has never been a dull moment in our friendship; we constantly build from each other every day. We have been through it all together and there is no other person in this world I wouldn’t mind battling it out for whether it is on the rink or off than Alec. He is someone you want on your team and it is truly a blessing to not only call him my teammate but my best friend as well.”

Roller hockey team returns with two national championship trophies

The shelves reserved for trophies at the Skate San Diego roller rink are a little less bare after teams representing the El Cajon rink returned from the recent AAU Junior Olympic Games in Las Vegas with a pair of national championship trophies.

The San Diego Sprung Hockey Hosers/Alakli San Diego Stingrays combo team captured titles in both the 21-under Club and 21-under International divisions at the 190-plus team inline hockey extravaganza that took place July 10-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Junior Olympic Games represent the national championship tournament for AAU Hockey.

“It’s nice,” Skate San Diego rink owner and team co-coach Joe Noris said in an obvious understatement. “The trophy shelves were pretty bare.”

National championships are a rare and celebrated treasure in any community, and such is obviously the case with all those who skate at the rink, which is located adjacent to Gillespie Field.

Noris said increased interest in the adult divisions at the El Cajon facility since its opening two years ago allowed the rink to attract some of the top talent in the San Diego region.

“We were able to accomplish that with a very good bunch of players,” explained Noris, who played professional ice hockey in both the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association during the 1970s. “We had a great group of players who played very well together.”

Leading the charge for the San Diego teams were co-coach Steve Baldwin's three sons: Charles, David and Eric Baldwin.

Charles Baldwin, better known as Chucky Slick of You Tube’s “Living the Dream — Junior Hockey Anthem” fame, paced the team in scoring while both David and Eric also helped buttress the team’s offensive fortunes.

Charles Baldwin, whose You Tube video has registered more than one million hits, racked up 25 goals competing in three divisions (21U Club, 21U International and Pro/Elite) while David and Eric combined for five goals and 10 assists.

Charles Baldwin scored the game-winning goal in the San Diegans’ 5-4 upset victory against the heavily favored Mission Outcasts team from Arizona in the 21U Club Division semifinals, which team members all pointed to as the team’s toughest game at the tournament.

The Hosers/Stingrays defeated the top-seeded Revision Vanquish by an 8-3 score to win the 21U Club Division gold medal. The East County-braced team also performed double duty in the 21U International Division as the Team USA Stars representative.

Backed by co-scoring leaders Charles Baldwin and Alec McCrea, the Team USA Stars claimed a second gold medal in the tournament after upending Team USA Stripes, 6-3, to avenge an earlier defeat in round-robin play.

Noris said about 90 percent of the players on the Hosers/Stingrays roster played for both teams at the Las Vegas event.

“The Baldwin brothers really helped pull all the other players into the mix,” Noris explained.

The mix in team talent included both ice and roller hockey players. Noris noted that four players on the roster were purely four roller hockey players: Kekoa Latimore, Jon Gauthier, Thompson Teague and Degan Clay.

Latimore previously secured a silver medal with the Team USA junior men’s team at the 2011 FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships in Italy and won a gold medal at the 2012 National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Division I finals with Bethel University.

McCrea, who attended Valhalla High School his freshman and sophomore years before moving to the Midwest to play Junior A ice hockey, led the Waterloo Black Hawks to the best regular season record in the United States Hockey League and a runner-up finish in the USHL championship finals this past season.

Teague, a member of this year’s NCRHA B-Division national champions for Lindenwood University, scored the game-tying goal with three seconds to play to force the semifinal game against the Outcasts into overtime; McCrea, a defenseman, assisted on Charles Baldwin's game-winning goal in the OT period.

Bracing the San Diegans between the pipes was Santee’s Zach Cummings, who earned accolades as the top goaltender in the 21U International division with a 1.60 goals-against average.

“All the boys were poised, played hard and skated fast, I enjoyed playing behind them,” Cummings explained. “I knew if I did my job and played well that we had a chance to win.”

Noris said the team’s catalyst proved to be former Poway High School roller hockey star Reed Kinsey, the 2011-12 CIF Player of the Year, who was unavailable for the team’s round-robin games but joined them in time for the playoffs.

“It was his heart and his desire and that added spark made the difference,” Noris said of Kinsey. “You go beyond that and Chucky was the scoring machine. You go beyond that and every one else on the team contributed; we jelled as a team.”

The team’s players also had to be inspired by the presence of former Scripps Ranch High School star Chad (C.J.) Ruhwedel, now a defenseman with the NHL Buffalo Sabres, who played on the Sprung Hosers entry in the Pro/Elite Division.

“It had to be a confidence boost for the guys to have someone like C.J. on the team,” Noris said. “I think it helped the guys believe they were legitimate players in the higher scheme of things when they realized they were holding their own with a guy who's playing in the NHL.”

The players admitted they continue to be inspired by Noris, who at 62, still competes in the rink's top adult divisions.

Noris said he drew on his experiences of both playing for the U.S. national ice hockey team in the 1976 and as the head coach of Team USA senior men's team inline hockey team during 2008-2009 when he guided the America’s top inline squad to three major international gold medals.

Among Noris’ coaching mentors was Herb Brooks, coach of the gold medalist U.S. “Miracle on Ice” team at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.

“When you have a talented group of players, the challenge is how to bring them together, to make them mesh as one on a team,” Noris said. “Each player needs to be a piece of the puzzle and one player not the king pin. What helped us was that a lot of our guys had the luxury of playing in our AAA adult house league. By learning how to play against each other, they also learned how to play with each other.”

Co-coach Steve Baldwin was obviously pleased by his sons' leadership roles on the teams.

“I have coached all my sons in roller hockey for all their lives, but throughout their lives they were always on different teams based on age, so this Junior Olympics was the first tournament the older three boys have all played together and was a real joy to watch them interact on the rink,” the elder Baldwin explained. “They know each other's moves so well it sometimes seems magical.”

Underdog San Diegans hold their own in tough 21U/Junior Division

The 21U Division is otherwise known as the Junior Division in amateur roller hockey. Given the age group – a cross-section of high school and college stars – it has earned a deserved reputation as one of the most talent-laden divisions in age-group play.

San Diego Hosers/Stingrays co-coach Joe Noris said his team's toughest game in winning the 21U Club Division title at this year’s AAU Junior Olympic Games inline hockey championship tournament was its 5-4 overtime win over the Outcasts, an all-star team from Arizona.

“They were a very tough team to play against,” Noris explained. “They were full of stars on other teams. We stuck with them. We wound up tying the game with three seconds to go on a goal by Thompson Teague and went into overtime and, after they got called for a penalty, we scored the game-winner.”

The game-tying goal at the end of regulation play visibly took the air out of the Outcasts team, according to the San Diego coaches. The overtime penalty squarely shifted the game’s momentum to the underdogs.

“We put our face-off guys and our best offensive guys on the floor,” Noris said. “We won both face-offs to keep the puck in their zone, so they weren't able to rest. We kept the puck in their zone and eventually got some chances with it deep in their zone …”

Teague was counting down the seconds in his head during the waning stages of regulation.

“We had a couple of chances but they didn't go in,” Teague recalled. “They kind of kicked it back out to me. With five seconds left, I knew I had to shoot. It hit the right post and went in. It felt like a dream, it was surreal. There was a huge celebration at the center of the rink.”

There was an even huger celebration by the San Diego team after Charles Baldwin, off an assist by defenseman Alec McCrea, scoring the game-winner at the 4:55 mark of overtime.

Baldwin led the team with 25 goals scored in 15 games during the tournament while competing in the 21U Club, 21U International and Pro/Elite divisions.

“All the other teams were sponsored there, (but) we sort of blended into the division there like a chameleon,” Baldwin noted. “It was a good time in Vegas, good chemistry, a great team. We've got some good things coming up in the NARCh and AAU circuit. We're a team that others are going to talk about.”

Baldwin’s words don’t appear to just be a boast — the San Diego squad showed some genuine promise in knocking off, in order, the Outcasts and then the also highly regarded Revision Vanquish in the 21U Club semifinals and finals in Las Vegas.

“Our team was on top of the world after that,” Hosers/Stingrays goaltender Zach Cummings said while displaying an ear-to-earn smile.